Island



(No Model.)

A. T. VIGNERON. PUZZLE.

No. 600.765. Patented Mar. 15,1898.

wz'iness s v Nrrnn g ADOLPH THOMAS VIGNERON, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND;

PUZZLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,755, dated March 15, 1898. Application filed September 3, 1897. Serial No. 650,548. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ADOLPH THOMAS VIGNE- RON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and original article of manufacture, a Puzzle, of which the following is a specification.

The invention is designed to interest those persons whose attention has been attracted to the Klondike region of Alaska by the excitement incident to the reported finding of heavy deposits of gold.

The invention represents a group of miners, accompanied and preceded by a guide, starting from some easily-accessible part of Alaska and journeying through a pass between mountains to the territory known as the Klondike gold-fields, and the puzzle consists in returning the guide to the starting-point without returning anyof the miners into or through the said pass in its accomplishment.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan of the puzzle, showing the arrangement of the movable squares atthe beginning. Fig. 2 is a sectional view through line y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan showing the arrangement of the squares necessary to the solution of the puzzle.

Referring to Fig. 1, the article is made as a shallow box or tray a of square form, with its corners rounded for the sake of appearance and convenience of manufacture. The tray may be made of any desired material and may be provided with a cover when not in use. It has two substantially triangular portions b b, slightly raised from the bottom of the tray. These raised portions b 6 represent mountains, and the channel 0 between them at the center of the tray represents a mountain-pass. The raising of these two portions 79 1) leaves two substantially triangular-shaped cavities d d, connected by the narrow channel c. In one cavity, d, are arranged eight squares, seven of them, e, representing miners, and the eighth square, f, represents a guide. This cavity (1, wherein the squares are first arranged, represents the startingpoint in the journey, and the other cavity, d, represents the Klondike goldfields. The guide f precedes the miners e through the pass 0 and into the gold-fields d, and the puzzle consists in returning the guide to the startingpoint 01 without returning any of the miners 6 into or back through the pass 0.

The operator almost invariably tries to solve the puzzle by keeping the squares when in the cavity (1' arranged in the same manner as at the start in the cavity d-namely, with their sides parallel with and at right angles to the sides of the tray. The puzzle can only be solved by arranging the squares, as shown in Fig. 3, with their sides parallel with and at right angles to the diagonal lines representing the dividing-line between the cavities d and d and the raised portions 1) b.

It is obvious that the essential features of the puzzle are the triangular cavities d and 61, formed by two parallel sides of the tray, the diagonal raised lines, and the connectingpass 0, and it is immaterial whether the tri angular portions 12 b are raised over their en tire surface or only at the diagonal boundarylines to form a barrier to prevent the escape of the squares from the cavities d and d.

In the drawings only seven miners e and one guide f are shown; but I do not limit myself to the number of miners, as the diagonal lines can be extended and the tray enlarged to any size desired and the increased cavity-spaces filled in with additional squares.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An article of manufacture consisting of a tray or boX- having two triangular-shaped cavities connected by a narrow channel, in combination with movable squares adapted to he slid from one of said cavities to the other through the said channel, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. An article of manufacture consisting of a box or tray approximating a square in form, with two oppositely-arranged cavities substantially triangular in shape connected by a narrow channel at the center of the tray, the walls of the cavities being formed by two parallel sides of the tray, and raised diagonal lines extending from the corners of the tray toward the center and there forming the channel-walls by changing the angles of their ,direction to one parallel with the other two sides of the tray, in combination with movable squares adapted to be slid in the said cavities and from one to the other by way of the channel; the said channel being sufficiently narrow' to prevent the passage of more than lar raised portions, in combination with movone square at a time, all for the purpose speciable squares adapted to be slid in the said fied. cavities and from one to the other by Way of 3. An article of manufacture consisting of the said channel, the said channel being suf- I5 5 a box or tray approximating a square in form, ficiently narrow to preyent the passage of with two oppositely-arranged raised portions more than one square at a time.

substantially triangular in shape and two 1 substantially triangular cavities also oppo- ADOLPH THOMAS VIGNERON' sitely arranged; the said cavities being con- Witnesses: to nected bya narrow channel lying between the EDWARD O. PARKHURST,

inner ends of the said substantially triangu- PARDON W. TILLINGHAST. 

